The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

On Monday the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv removed Mykola Tytarenko from his role as defence lawyer for the former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Batkivshchyna Party, Yulia Tymoshenko. Judge Kireyev explained his decision as being because Mr Tytarenko had on a number of occasions refused to obey the court’s instructions, and therefore, in his view, being in contempt of court. His ruling also states that the lawyer had more than once infringed the procedure established in court hearings.

It also suggests that the Kyiv Disciplinary Commission of Bar Lawyers pay attention to what he deems unacceptable behaviour by Mr Tytarenko.

UNIAN reports that before the ruling was passed, Kireyev had stated that the lawyer was refusing to obey the presiding judge (Kireyev) and was trying to drag out the court examination. For example, the lawyer, standing, announced his demands to the judge.

Yury Sukhov, another of Ms Tymoshenko’s lawyers pointed out that there was no normative act prohibiting a lawyer from standing during the court hearing and there were therefore no grounds for removing him.